Best trivia question of the week: Name the last African American to lead UCLA in passing for a season.

If you’ve been reading MowryJournal, you probably know I’m a simple guy. I believe in the golden rule. I believe people are good. I believe people are smart.

With me so far? ’cause those are big ideas, and they inform how I believe life should be lived. That’s why I was so struck this week by two different examples of how people view the importance of race in America today.

Note: I won’t be making angry political comments. Please stick with me for a few ‘graphs and see if you can agree with my conclusion.

Alec Baldwin. Do you trust this man’s opinion about race relations?

Alec Baldwin tweeted this week that “If Obama was white, he’d be up by 17 points.” I was astonished by this unfounded, inflammatory statement. Mr. Baldwin had no research to support his tweet; it’s just another example of overblown partisan rhetoric.

Rush Limbaugh, “with talent on loan from God.”

And, of course, when a provocateur from one side of our political equation makes a bombastic statement, then we always hear from the other side. It was later that day that Rush Limbaugh proclaimed that if Obama was white, then he would be losing by 20 points! He also had no supporting data, of course … he also had no credibility. In my humble opinion.

A much different, a much more positive comment on the state of race in today’s America was in this week’s LA Times. Bill Plaschke wrote a wonderful article about UCLA’s new quarterback, Brett Hundley. He is African American, hence the trivia question.

Name the last African American to lead UCLA in passing for a season.

The answer is Jackie Robinson. Yes, THAT Jackie Robinson, who was a running back for UCLA in 1940. He led the team in passing with 444 yards.

Jackie Robinson was a multi-sport athlete at UCLA; its baseball stadium is named for him. He later broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and his # 42 is the only number retired by Major League Baseball. All baseball players wear his number on Jackie Robinson Day each year. No other person in professional sports is accorded such an honor as this.

Plaschke’s article is a wonderful portrait of a young man at the beginning of his college football career … his hopes intertwined with the hopes of the Bruins Nation.

UCLA is not only one of America’s top universities, it is also recognized as being one of the leaders in campus racial diversity by US News & World Report, which publishes some of the most watched ranking lists for universities today.

Here’s my bottom line:

I live in the America where race is important as an indicator of how far we’ve come. I have no interest in sniping about our President’s race and how that does or doesn’t affect his chances in the 2012 election.

I will root for Brett Hundley, and I root for UCLA. For Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Limbaugh? Not so much.

You still with me?

Brett Hundley is a redshirt freshman, and just might be the starting quarterback for UCLA for four years.